Italian diocesan "listening centers" for victims of abuse took reports from 89 people against 68 priests or other church personnel in 2020 and 2021, the Italian bishops' conference reported.
Six months after promising to begin an annual audit of the Italian church's child
As a "first choice," members of the Italian bishops' conference decided to focus their study of clerical sexual abuse in the country on cases reported to the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 2000 to 2021.
Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of
Pope Francis held a closed-door, two-hour meeting with members of the Italian bishops' conference late May 23 as the bishops were preparing for new leadership and for a discussion on authorizing a study into clerical sexual abuse in the country.
Neither the Vatican
Italy's Constitutional Court has blocked a national referendum on legalizing euthanasia, saying it would violate constitutional protections of human life.
The court, which ruled in 2019 against punishing a physician for assisting with the death of a terminally ill patient experiencing intolerable suffering,
Pope Francis told an Italian interviewer that forgiveness is "a human right."
"I'm going to say something that may shock some people, but it's the truth: The ability to be forgiven is a human right," the pope told journalist Fabio Fazio Feb. 6
As coronavirus cases continue to increase across Italy, the country's bishops issued new guidelines and restrictions meant to curb the spread of infection among the faithful.
In a statement released Jan. 10, the general secretariat of the Italian bishops' conference said that with
Pope Francis invited Italy's bishops to live the "beatitudes of a bishop," an adaptation of the traditional Eight Beatitudes to provide guiding principles for being a "good shepherd" of a diocese.
Blessed is the bishop who walks a path of poverty and sharing,
Italy's highest court of appeal has ruled that public school classrooms can approve the presence of the crucifix because it does not discriminate against anyone.
The court specified, however, that all religious symbols can also be "welcomed" as long as it is decided
Bishop-designate Marini will succeed Italian Bishop Vittorio Francesco Viola, who had led the Diocese of Tortona -- located in the northern Italian region of Piedmont -- from 2014 until May 2021, after he was appointed secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship
To promote a safe return to in-person learning, the Italian government has passed a law requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for all university students and for all teachers, professors and staff on every level, from nursery schools to universities.
The law covers close to 8,000